Pacific Coast Fertilizer SEPA

Pacific Coast Fertilizer, LLC (PCF) proposes to construct and operate a facility to process natural gas in the manufacture of anhydrous ammonia. The facility would store the product on-site and transfer and load the product for shipping via tanker trucks and via marine vessels. The proposed site is within the existing Mint Farm Industrial park (within the City of Longview) and is approximately 61 acres in size. The marine loading facility would be developed at the existing Nippon Dynawave salt dock. The dock is within Cowlitz County jurisdiction.

The project would consist of the following main elements: natural gas supply; ammonia manufacturing; ammonia storage, tanker truck loading; ammonia transfer to the salt dock; and marine vessel loading. The Facility would operate 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and would be designed to produce 1,650 tons of ammonia per day.

Natural gas would be supplied to the Facility via the existing 12-inch-diameter Ostrander natural gas lateral pipeline operated by Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company. The existing lateral pipeline runs approximately 0.4 miles east of the proposed project site. An approximately 4,000-foot extension would be needed. Ammonia would be manufactured at the Facility through an industrial process that combines hydrogen from natural gas and nitrogen from the air to form ammonia. The ammonia product would be stored in two on-site refrigerated 33,000-ton (30,000-metric tonne) storage tanks prior to loading in trucks or marine vessels. The truck loading facility would include the components needed to load the manufactured ammonia in 11,500-gallon capacity tanker trucks. Ammonia would be transported from the storage tanks to the marine loading facility via a 16-inch diameter, approximately 1.5-mile insulated product line. The marine loading facility would consist of loading lines, a loading arm, a water tank, a hydraulic power unit, and operator cabinet.

Approximately 100-200 trucks would be loaded per week, with loading operations running 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. This number is expected to drop during winter months when agricultural demand for ammonia is reduced in the Pacific Northwest. PCF estimates that 12 to 15 marine vessels will be loaded per year with the number of vessels declining over time as they increase the supply to the Pacific Northwest’s agricultural community.

The proposed processing/manufacturing site has a Longview zoning designation of Heavy Industrial District. The proposed marine loading facility is within Cowlitz County’s Heavy Manufacturing zoning district.

Location:

The facility would be located in the Mint Farm Industrial Park that is located in the City of Longview. The address for the site is 3500 Hoehne Avenue. The site is bounded by Prudential Boulevard, Crocker Avenue, Hoehne Avenue and Weber Avenue and is within the SW corner of Section 30, T8N, R2W Willamette Meridian. The marine loading facility would be constructed at the existing Nippon Dynawave salt dock located within Cowlitz County Assessor’s Parcel Number 63876.

Application and SEPA process:

Pacific Coast Fertilizer has submitted an application for an excavating and grading permit with an accompanying SEPA checklist. The SEPA checklist provides more information on the proposed project and its environmental impacts.

The City issued a SEPA threshold determination and scoping noticeon October16. Agencies, affected tribes, and members of the public were invited to comment on the scope of the EIS during the 30-day scoping period which took place from October 16 to November 15, 2017.

The scoping period included an opportunity for citizens to learn more about the project and to provide comments at two open-house style scoping meetings that were held on November 8, at the Cowlitz County Event Center.

City staff has reviewed the comments received and issued a SEPA Scoping Report for Pacific Coast Fertilizer Proposed Ammonia Plant on January 3, 2018. The report discusses the scoping process, summarizes the comments received and determines which impacts will be required to be addressed in greater detail in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement. Comments received can be accessed here.

Documents Available: Information regarding the project can be reviewed at the City of Longview Community Development Department located at 1525 Broadway Street in Longview, WA, at the Longview Public Library located at 1600 Louisiana Street, Longview, WA or at Cowlitz County Building and Planning at 207 4th Avenue North, Kelso, WA 98626.

The City of Longview is the lead agency under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)

What is SEPA?

SEPA stands for the State Environmental Policy Act. The SEPA review process provides a way to identify possible environmental impacts that may result from construction and operation of a proposed project. Information gathered during the review process helps agency decision-makers and the public understand how a proposal will affect the environment. The information can be used to change a proposal, to reduce likely impacts, or to condition or deny a proposal when adverse environmental impacts are identified. Public and agency input is an important part of the SEPA process.

Under state law, state and local agencies are required by SEPA to consider the likely environmental consequences of a proposed project before acting on any permits or approvals requested to construct and operate the project. Learn more about SEPA from the Washington State Department of Ecology.